Well Mannered Control
by Shittake Ramen
Summary: Why Parker ,Eliot and Hardison followed Nate. How Nathan Ford stays in control.


Well Mannered Control

Authors Note: Watched Leverage season one episode one after not having seen it for a whiled and it posed the question why did they listen to Nathan Ford without question? I don't own Leverage or the character's I just borrow them from time to time.

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** Parker**

The first time Parker had heard of Nathan Ford she had just begun to steal independently. She must've been 16 or 17 when she heard about him taking down _thee _Sophie Devereaux in Paris. If she hadn't heard around the underground sect that Nathan Ford was somebody to stay away from, well who his father was definitely would have made her steer clear.

So when Dudemich approached her for the job she took it to see if this Nathan Ford guy was really something worth being scared of. Parker is women enough to say she a bit reckless at times. She jumps off 30 and 60 story building and elevator shafts with out blinking. Those are her roller coasters her adrenaline highs. Parker likes to thieve that's what she has control over.

Having grown up in and out of the foster system and run away from an abusive home has made Parker very good at reading people. So when they bump into each other at the warehouse and she has her gun pointed at Nathan , Hardison, Eliot pissed about not having getting money( which is really a cover for having somebody take the control from up under her) she let Nathan take the gun away.

She read him and he was broken just like she was, in a different way but broken all the same. He understood her need to be in high places, her naivety and he treated her like a human being and not a crazy person. So Parker let Nate be in control because she respected him and wither he knew it or not Nate had become the father figure she has wanted and need so badly.

**Hardison**

Alec Hardison preferred brains over brawns so he wasn't much for hand to hand combat. He knew who Nathan Ford was a second before they meet. He goggled him and found out what was already common knowledge. Hardison didn't look any further he knew Nathan reputation as an insurance agent and knew he'd find a way to track him down if he pushed to far.

Hardison might be a technology genius but he was no mastermind. He wasn't taking chances. Let it be said in simplest terms that Hardison had nothing but respect for Nathan Ford. If he was Robin Nathan Ford was Batman. Hardison will never admit that when Nathan took the gun from him he was relieved. He'd never shot a person in his life. Also he was slightly scared of that Eliot guy.

Nobody knew his past but what they did know was he was good at kicking bad guy butt. That day in the warehouse Nate had saved him from getting a royal butt whipping and getting blown up all in under an hour if that didn't call for respect Hardison didn't know what did. Nathan Ford was a super hero for the small people and Hardison was all but willing to be his sidekick . That why Hardison let Nate be in charge it's a given he _is_ a mastermind after all.

**Eliot**

Eliot Spencer had done many things in his life a quarter of which he wasn't exactly proud of. So in order to set a line from himself he had a set of morals he lived by no matter what.

Never kill unless he necessarily hade to

Treat others how you would want to be treated

Never trust anybody til they proven themselves worthy of being trusted.

When he first meet Nathan he didn't trust him which isn't saying much about Eliot because he hardly trust anybody. Nathan reminded him to much of the man he use to work for . Working everything from behind the shadows like a puppet master. At least that how it was in the beginning. Nathan Ford was not scared of Eliot which is something. Eliot rarely encountered anybody who wasn't. Not to mention that he saved all there collective butts back at the warehouse. Eliot will admit it hadn't cross his mind it might have been a set-up til Nathan pointed it out. He had earned his respect and maybe a little bit of his trust. He did tell them to run a few time while the were busy bickering.

So after a year of working with the team himself , Hardison, Parker, and Nate he grew to trust him. Sophie he still didn't trust she was way to selfish and had to many aliases. Eliot wonder if she knew who she was half of the time. But if Nate said she was the best he would take his word for it. The team had become a family and he'd fight tooth and nail to keep _his_ family safe.

Eliot knew the one thing that every member had in common was they all work solo because of the need for control over there life. All their past had them in out of control situations that they had no hand in. It only made sense they would grow up wanting to have the control to feel like they had a power over themselves. Eliot was a wolf tightly locked down and every time he went into hitter mode that wolf would get a chance to come out. It always lurked just beneath the surface.

As for why Eliot trusted Nate they had the wolf in common. While he was a nice guy over all and the rest of the team believed so as well. Eliot knew better, Nate was after all Jimmy Fords son. He knew that the death of his son Sam really broke the chain on the wolf lurking inside just beneath the surface. He seen it every time some one brought up Sam's death and that scared him. Eliot let Nate be in control because unlike him who was a vicious wolf for all to see Nate was his conning Alpha and he was confident in his ability to tear people to shreds with out ever touching them. Eliot's smart enough to know people are more scared of the unknown then what they see.


End file.
